Culmination of Contempt
by Caught Ink Handed
Summary: It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. But what does family resemblance do?


**Culmination of Contempt**

* * *

Tonks skidded across the rubble-strewn floor of Hogwarts, brilliant flashing spells whipping around her, accompanied by the vicious shouts of their casters. Dust rose as feet darted around in efforts to dodge the curses. Some were successful, some were not.

A Death Eater rose his wand towards a young woman's back. Tonks quickly shot a stunning spell at him, catching him roughly in the chest.

Her eyes flashed away and continued searching for her husband. She narrowed her eyes, absentmindedly blocking a feeble curse. She could hear pained screams coming from another room and her attention briefly moved.

A slicing jinx rushed past her hair, brushing the tip of her ear. Hot blood dripped down her ear onto her shoulder. Tonks paid it no heed. She whipped around, already moving into a dueling position.

Some masked Death Eater raised his wand uneasily, clearly not the strongest of them.

_Oh no, she knew who that was. That was her dear aunt. _Tonks thought as she shot a full body bind curse at the Death Eater, who barely dodged it in the nick of time. As the Death Eater raised his hand for his next spell, Tonks muttered a quick spell, slipping under her opponent's defenses. The man fell away, his head clashing violently with a piece of fallen ceiling.

Tonks spun around, searching desperately for a head of grey streaked brown in the mass of bodies.

"Tonks! Duck!" A familiar deep voice shouted and her auror instincts automatically kicked in as she dropped to the ground without a second of hesitation. A brilliant crackling blue spell flew over the spot she had been standing, which was quickly followed by the tell tale green of a killing curse. Kingsley narrowly dodged the curse, but was then off balance as his opponent raised his wand.

"Stupefy!" Tonks cried, pointing her wand at the Death Eater through a hole in the stone. The man crumpled to the ground. Kingsley righted himself and gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement. "King, where's Remus?" she shouted to make herself heard over the din of the battle.

"Last I saw, he was one room over. Be carefu- Goddammit," Kingsley hissed, clutching at a cut on the arm he had just been using to direct Tonks.

"You alright, King?" Tonks rushed to his side, warding off a few stray hexes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," He shot a wordless spell under her arm and a Death Eater cried out in agony. Tonks quickly turned to face the oncoming Death Eaters. Kingsley spun on his heel to cover Tonks' back. Soon it seemed as if half of the Death Eaters in the room had focused in on the pair of aurors.

"Protego," Tonks rapidly flicked her wand just in time to block a pair of stunners aimed at her head.

Just as the numbers were beginning to feel overwhelming, a few of their fellow Order members came to their rescue, picking off the Death Eaters, allowing Tonks and Kingsley to move away from the tight corner.

"Cheers, Hestia. King, I'm gonna go and find Remus," Tonks said breathlessly. Kingsley nodded wordlessly, turning to the rest of them.

Tonks could faintly hear him directing the Order members where to go as she sprinted off in the direction he had pointed earlier.

Tonks dashed around the corridor, managing to just barely keep her footing while looking for her husband. She skidded to a stop, turning full circle in search of him. Her heart was beating out a frantic pattern against her breast bone. Dread slowly wormed its way up her body, clogging her throat.

"Dora?" A voice called, hoarse from dust and shouting. Tonks quickly turned to the source and a smile cracked across her lips.

"Remus!" She flung herself at him, clutching at him like a lifeline.

He pushed her back, hands still resting on her shoulders. "Why…Why are you here? Teddy? He needs you, Dora. He needs his mother."

"He's with my mother. He'll be fine. I just couldn't stand not being here."

"Dora," he sighed, brushing a hand across her cheek. "Go home."

"Not a chance in hell, Remus," she side-stepped slightly and fired off a vicious disarming spell. The two Death Eaters' wands both went flying away into the mayhem.

Remus grinned wolfishly back at her, shifting behind her to face off a Death Eater. It appeared as if a partially stunned Dolohov had regained himself and was back up for another fight.

The couple stood back to back, both dueling fiercely, as jets of light flashed around them.

A flash of purple cut across Tonks' vision accompanied by a pained moan behind her. Tonks moved just in time to catch Remus before he hit the ground. Pain, unlike anything Tonks had ever seen, was painted across her husband's scarred face.

"Dora…" He coughed out, wincing with every breath.

Tonks' vision flashed red and she raised her wand automatically, her voice cracking as she shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" Dolohov danced just out of reach, but before he could return a curse, two DA members engaged him. An amused, yet absolutely mad shriek of laughter bounced across the hall, but Tonks paid it no heed.

Tonks quickly looked back to Remus, his head cradled in her lap. "Remus… are you… what happened?"

"His… specialty…in the-th-the heart." Hot, fat tears rolled down Tonks' cheeks as Remus coughed, a small trickle of blood falling from the corner of his mouth.

Tonks felt her morph dropping as she stared down at Remus. He weakly raised a hand to her hair, "Always did…" a series of coughs interrupted him and Tonks held her breath, "Did like your t-t-true form."

"Remus, stay with me." She whispered, "For Teddy. I can't do this without you."

"Tell 'im I-I love him, Dora." Tears began falling from Remus' eyes as well, wiping away the heavy grime coating his cheeks.

"No, no, no." Tonks leaned over Remus, holding onto him for dear life. "Remus, I lov-"

"What's this?" A cruel voice interjected, coming from only mere feet away. "The poor little werewolf got hurt? And the filthy little blood traitor is saying good bye?"

Tonks kept her head down, unwilling to rise to Bellatrix's bait.

"You are an embarrassment to your blood, girl. Can't even properly perform a killing curse. Your mother was always weak too." At the mention of her mother, Tonks lifted her chin to stare down her aunt. "You really are a circus freak aren't you?" She gestured towards Tonks' now vivid pink hair with a smirk.

Words stuck in Tonks' mouth like the foul taste of bad food, all jumbled up, having no meaning.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix shouted with undisguised glee.

Every muscle in Tonks' body seized up in pain. Every nerve blazed with inconceivable heat. She could feel her body writhing on the ground in pain, but it was as if she wasn't there. Then it stopped. Never before had air felt so good. She really had never appreciated how blessed it was.

But she didn't have time to appreciate it as the curse was cast again. Tonks squeezed her eyes shut as if that would make the pain stop. And it did.

The sounds of the battle rung heavily in her ears. A sort of exhausted settled over her like a cloak.

"Weak, open your eyes you filthy brat," Tonks' eyes flew open. Bellatrix spat in her ear. "Weak like your mother. Weak like your father, filthy mudblood. Once the Dark Lord has won, I will hunt my worthless, cowardly sister down and I will kill her." A whimper escaped Tonks involuntarily. "But before that, I will kill your monstrous half breed pup." A maddened laugh echoed in Tonks' ear, sending chills down her spine.

Tonks grasped desperately for her wand, but found that it had rolled out of her reach. Dread seeped into every pore of her body. But Nymphadora Tonks was nothing, if not a fighter.

10 years ago, Ted Tonks had taken it upon himself to teach his daughter how to fight like a muggle. "Just in case one of those boys tries to get too friendly," he had said before showing her the proper way to punch.

Tonks rolled to her side, then pulled back a tight fist and caught Bellatrix in the jaw.

Bellatrix reeled back in shock and clutched at her jaw in pain. She spat out a tooth and some blood, her eyes filled with a burning hatred. With out hesitation, Bellatrix shouted, "Crucio,"

Pain seared through Tonks' body, touching upon every single inch of her body with a hot torch. But the pain no longer just resided in her body; it seeped into her mind as well.

Her father's and Sirius' faces flashed in her mind. Her childhood friends' joyous laughs echoed in her ears. Teddy's toothy smile and colorful hair lingered in her eyesight.

With much effort, she pried her eyes open, her gaze falling to Remus, lying prone on the ground.

His eyes flickered weakly, the life slowly trickling out of him.

"I love you, Nympha-" with a shudder, Remus fell still, eyes fluttering shut.

A pain like no other shattered into Tonks. But then the physical pain stopped. She was so tired. So, so tired. Exhaustion unlike any other collapsed over her.

A figure advanced over her, Tonks' vision hazed by pain and dust. Tonks blinked tiredly up, overwhelmed by everything.

"Mum?" She asked, staring at what appeared to be her mother's kind face. Andromeda smiled down at her, moving ever closer.

A green light burst in front of her eyes and she knew no more.

O-o-O-o-O

Bellatrix Lestrange stared down at the girl in front of her. _Really, that was all she was, a girl. _She was pitifully writhing in pain. "Pathetic," Bellatrix whispered to herself. Bellatrix crouched down next to the weak girl in front of her. "Weak, open your eyes you filthy brat," The brat's eyes opened, and the familiar color shocked her to her very core. "Weak like your mother. Weak like your father, filthy mudblood. Once the Dark Lord has won, I will hunt my worthless, cowardly sister down and I will kill her. But before that, I will kill your monstrous half breed pup." Bellatrix laughed with unbridled glee at the expression on the girl's face.

With mirth, Bellatrix watched her grasp for her wand, only to push it further away. Bellatrix could not suppress the smirk on her face. _Not that she wanted to anyway. _

Bellatrix relished her victory cheerfully, watching over her. Then out of nowhere, something collided with her jaw.

Instantly, her mouth was filled with blood and a tooth came loose. She spit the contents of her mouth out on to the ground. Hatred filled every pore as she raised her wand again, "Crucio!"

The girl writhed on the ground, thrashing limbs and muffled screams. Bellatrix did have to hand it to her. She wasn't as weak as she would've expected. The girl's eyes fluttered open and Bellatrix followed her gaze. Ah, the werewolf. The life was fading from him. He tried to say something before succumbing to his wounds.

Bellatrix lifted the curse, examining the girl before her. The pain of the curses had clearly taken a vicious toll on her as she shuddered and heaved, trying to cling to life. She blinked up hazily at Bellatrix, a strange expression crossing her face.

"Mum?" The word hung in the air, filled with a potency that Bellatrix could neither explain nor understand.

In a moment of panic, Bellatrix raised her wand and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" The green light danced between them and then the girl froze.

Bellatrix paused as she stared down at her niece. She no longer had any sort of morph up, was merely in her natural state.

The sudden pain that seared through Bellatrix surprised her. She had not been hit by any spell, and the girl truly had not done enough to cause her harm.

No, no, it was the face of the sister she had lost. That was the cause of her pain.

It was the curly brown hair that made her nerves tingle. It was the brown eyes that made her extremities curl into themselves. It was the aristocratic, Black cheekbones that caused her stomach to clench painfully. It was the fact that she was staring at a near replica of her younger sister that caused Bellatrix Lestrange (nee Black)'s heart to begin to crack. But as her heart of ice cracked, the last bit of her sanity disintegrated.

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**Look at that, I'm back! I will admit, writing feels a bit odd at the moment. But nothing like some good ol' fashioned Tonks/ Remus angst to get you going again! **

**I have a few larger works in progress at the moment. And so I don't return to my nasty habit of not posting chapters, I want to be pretty far into the story before I do something stupid. **

**It's still a bit unclear how much I'll be able to write over the next month or so. I'm in Scotland for a summer program, so I have free time, but then I don't... yeah, I don't know either. **

**Alrighty, that's all I've got. **

**Please leave me a note of some form! Really does make my day!**

**E**


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